As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
An information handling system may include one or more power supply units for providing electrical energy to components of the information handling system. In many existing approaches, a power supply unit may have associated therewith one or more temperature sensors that detect one or more temperatures associated with the power supply unit, for example ambient temperature at an inlet of airflow to the power supply unit, component temperature of the power train of the power supply unit, etc. Many such power supply units also have associated therewith a control system configured to control the power output of a power supply unit based on the temperature measurements of the sensors, so as to reduce the likelihood of overheating of the power supply which may cause damage thereto. Thus, in response to increasing temperatures, control logic of an information handling system may decrease the amount of power demanded from the power supply, such that the power output of the power supply may be reduced as a result of the temperature increase.
Many information handling systems may include a plurality of power supply units for purposes of redundancy, serviceability, and/or other advantages. In traditional approaches, the power demands of an information handling system are typically shared equally among the various active power supply units of the information handling system. Thus, in such approaches, control logic of the information handling system may use the highest temperature reading from all of the power supply units in a system in order to determine a maximum power demand of the information handling system which has the effect of uniformly derating all power supply units. Such an approach may unnecessarily reduce power available to the information handling system as some of the power supply units may be effectively derated to a power level lower than that which they could support and still remain within temperature limits of the power supply unit.